Inside The Cover
Book Reviews
By Meryl
K. Evans
Kentucky
Roses
By Dekker Malone
Booklocker
June, 2002
312 pages
Amazon.com price: $16.95
This is what happens after happily ever after. Kentucky Roses
picks up where Dekker Malone's first book, Nashville Gold, ended. Happily
ever after isn't quite the case when we re-enter the world of cowboys, jockeys,
Payne, Skeeter, and Co. In the book, you meet the country music star, an achin'
jockey, a tired cowboy, and a nasty desperado who badly wants revenge.
Take a ride back into the beautiful Texas Hill country, experience the
excitement of the Churchill Downs, and take quick stopovers in other cities.
Malone, through his characters' eyes, shows the reader why each one loves what
they love and how they're motivated by that love.
Sequels have the habit of starting a book by repeating details from the original
to get people up to speed. Yes, the book helps jog the memory if you haven't
read the first in a long time, but Malone does it subtly throughout the book
instead of wasting the first couple of chapters recapping past adventures.
Payne and his buddy, Skeeter, have gone home to Texas to start their own stable
for breeding and racing thoroughbreds. Despite a few troubles, the hard work
pays off in the form of two contenders for the Kentucky Derby. What's a cowboy
book without the baddie? Red Phillips won't let anything get in the way of his
tracking down those who put him in jail. If you think Red is bad, wait until he
encounters a P.I. who turns Red's hatred into absolute vehemence. Hell hath no
fury like a Red scorned.
Readers who can't help but predict what will happen will be knocked for a
mini-loop. Those predictions are prone to be off the mark. It was gratifying to
see the story progress with unexpected curves. Just when you think it's safe or
to relax, a twist comes along to throw you off the racetrack.
Readers who encounter Kentucky Roses first can follow the story as if
there were no other book. Those who enjoyed Nashville Gold are guaranteed
to ride off into the pretty sunset again with the likable and not-so likeable
characters. Once more, Malone has written an enjoyable and engrossing story that
moves smoothly as silk.
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Meryl K. Evans (www.meryl.net)
is maneuvering through her first book, a
non-fiction. In between writer’s block sessions, she edits newsletters for
InternetVIZ (www.internetviz.com),
writes and edits for Digital Web Magazine (www.digital-web.com),
and takes notes (www.meryl.net/blog/).
